page_title: Malagasy hippopotamus
section_title: H. lemerlei
hierarchical_section_title: Malagasy hippopotamus / Species / H. lemerlei
caption_attribution_description: English: Speculative reconstruction of Lemerle's hippopotamus
context_page_description: Several species of Malagasy hippopotamus lived on the island of Madagascar but are now believed to be extinct. The animals were very similar to the extant hippopotamus and pygmy hippopotamus. The fossil record suggests that at least one species of hippopotamus lived until about 1,000 years ago and other evidence suggests that the species may have survived until much more recently. A non-fossilized skull and tusk were found in Madagascar in 2019 by biologist Forrest Galante, and were dated to less than 200 years old, possibly even surviving into the present day. The taxonomy of these animals is not resolved and not widely studied. The various species are believed to have survived into the Holocene epoch.
context_section_description: Hippopotamus lemerlei bones have been mostly discovered in the rivers and lakes of western Madagascar, suggesting a riparian lifestyle, very similar to that of the modern hippopotamus of modern Africa. H. lemerlei also shared the high orbits that make it easier for the hippopotamus to see while in the water. The skull of H. lemerlei also resembled that of the modern hippopotamus, but with consistent size differences, indicating that H. lemerlei was a sexually dimorphic species.
  Although a clear relative to the common hippopotamus, H. lemerlei was much smaller, roughly the size of the modern pygmy hippopotamus. The largest specimens were 6.5 ft (2 m) long and 2.5 ft (0.7 m) tall. The ancestors of H. lemerlei may have been full-sized hippos who shrunk through the process of insular dwarfism. A similar dwarfing process has occurred with hippos in many Mediterranean islands such as with the Cretan dwarf hippopotamus or the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus.
  Because H. lemerlei reached its size through dwarfing, it is properly known as the Malagasy dwarf hippopotamus, though this term is sometimes applied to the other species of Malagasy hippos.  Bones of H. lemerlei have been dated to about 1,000 years ago (980±200 radiocarbon years before present).
caption: Speculative reconstruction of the Malagasy dwarf hippopotamus Hippopotamus lemerlei
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